Sicilians are people who are also called good tasters. And I, as a good Sicilian blogger, I can’t help to write about the recipes you may eat during your travel to Sicily. Today I have wanted to discuss about some famous Sicilian hors-d’oeuvres, namely those meals used before eating the most important Sicilian lunches and dinners. These are some delicious recipes you can find and taste in the Palermo and Catania districts and in the namesake chief towns. Furthermore, the term hors-d’oeuvres relates to those meals that are also used to reduce the hungry of Sicilians. The first recipe is called “Panelle” in Sicilian, while in English it is said Chickpea fritters.
That is a simple recipe made with chickpea flour fritters. To prepare this recipe, follow this procedure: melt about 200 g of the chickpea flour in half a liter of cold, salted water. Put the liquid flour in a pan on the flame and continue mixing until you get a fairly homogeneous and solid mixture. Add some chopped parsley and remove the pan from the flame. Then, spread the homogenous mixture in the molds, these are the traditional cooking tools that Sicilians use to make this recipe. They are rectangles 3x 1,5 inches where the mixture is let to cool. When the flour is fully cooled, fry the chickpea fritters in boiling oil.
Along with the “panelle”, you can also taste the so called “cazzilli”. These are simple croquettes of potatoes made by sieving 1 kg of boiled potatoes mixed with a rather dense purèe where it has been added a mixture of chopped garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. So prepared, the croquettes, namely the cazzilli, are ready to be fried. In the Western Sicily, before frying them, the croquettes are also dipped in the beaten egg- white and in the breadcrumb. This last solution is fatter than the previous one, but it is used to flavor the croquettes better. When you eat the chickpea fritters or the panelle in Palermo, it is probable you taste only this meal with no croquettes or together with croquettes with no dipping in the beaten egg- white and in the breadcrumb.
Another delicious hors-d’oeuvres Sicilian is the one based on fried olives. This recipe is always offered in the Eastern Sicily. For this recipe, you need about 10 black olives per person that have to be previously cleared from salt. Put these olives into a fry pan with a bit of oil and crushed garlic and fry lightly for a few minutes. Add half a glass of vinegar to the olives, and when it is almost evaporated, flavour with marjoram. Keep cooking for some minutes again and so the olives are ready for being tasted. I suggest to serve them well hot. You can also eat the croquettes and the fried olives in the district of Catania.
And, at last, to finish our discussing about the Sicilian hors- d’oeuvres, there are the mint – flavored beans. To make this recipe, you must use half a kg of big white beans called Spanish, that you must boil in salted water flavoured with garlic and celery until they can be well chewed but not too much. Drain the beans perfectly and move them to a salad bowl, then season with oil, half a glass of vinegar, pepper, salt and some mint leaves. Let to flavour with a lid in a fresh place for about an hour before offering them.
Rosalba Mancuso is a freelance journalist born in Sicily. Passionate about her loved island and with extensive writing experience, Rosalba worked as a contributor to the main Sicily’s newspapers and as a bilingual Italian – English writer. Thanks to her skills, she also founded four websites in English. On Sicilyonweb, Rosalba tells every corner of her beloved Sicily. Furthermore, she writes this blog thanks to your help. Rosalba, in fact, earns a small commission, with no cost for you, when you book your travel or buy products through the affiliate widgets or links you find in her posts.